Start Your Garden Indoors - Part 3

Now is the time to get your garden soil tested for needed
amendments, if it wasn’t done last fall. Call your local
extension office for the name of a soil testing company and
directions on how to submit a soil sample.

LET THERE BE LIGHT

After seeds sprout, your seedlings must be given good growing
conditions to ensure strong, healthy plants. As soon as seeds
germinate they must receive bright light right away. A southern
facing window is an excellent choice. Unfortunately that is ou r
living room and there’s no way I can place eight or 10 flats of
seedlings in my living room window and keep peace in the house. I
use fluorescent lights. A shop/garage type fixture that holds two
40-watt fluorescent tubes works just fine for me. I keep my
fixtures hanging from chains so they can be moved up as the
plants grow. Your seedlings need to be close to the bulbs, within
four inches, and left on for 14 to 16 hours a day. The bulbs
should be replaced often. I use mine for 2 seasons at t he most.
I use one regular tube (white tones) and one red. The red are
more expensive than the white but the wider light spectrum is
necessary for the best growth.

KEEP IT COOL

Most annual and vegetable plants prefer cool temperatures, about
60 degrees, at night. Daytime temps can be a few degrees warmer.
I use an oscillating fan to keep the air circulating to help
prevent damping off and other fungal problems.

EAT, DRINK AND BE MERRY

Good humidity is good for seedlings. You can use a humidifier or
a pan of gravel and water. Seedlings should be kept moist at all
times but never soggy. Flats should dry between watering but
seedlings should never be allowed to wilt.

Seedlings planted in a low fertility mix like the
peat/vermiculite mix that I use will require feeding when they
develop their first set of true leaves. You can water with a 50
percent dilution of soluble fertilizer every two weeks. I dilute
mine eve n more to about 20 percent of the recommended solution
and use it every time I water my seedlings. Bottom water/feed or
use a very fine watering can.

THEY GROW UP SO QUICKLY

Within a couple of weeks, your individual seedlings will need to
be transplanted to a larger insert or container. You can
transplant into a mix of a light, dry potting soil with
vermiculite or sand mixed in. The mixture needs to be light to
allow ade quate oxygen getting to the roots.

If you planted your seeds all together in a flat, transplant as
soon as their first set of true leaves appear and they can be
safely handled.

Be gentle when transplanting. Handle seedlings by their leaves,
not the stem. A broken leaf won’t kill a plant but a broken stem
will. After you poke a hole in the transplanting medium replant
the seedling at the same depth it was growing in. Tomatoes and
marigold are exceptions. They will grow more roots all along
their stem if planted deeper. That’s a good thing. Keep the
growing seedlings under the fluorescent lights, and well
moistened as before.

TIME FOR TOUGH LOVE

Plants that have been pampered their whole young lives can’t be
thrown out into the garden as soon as danger of frost has passed.
They need to be "hardened off" by gradually acclimating them to
the great outdoors. About seven to 10 days before you plan on
putting them in the garden, take your seedlings outside and put
them in a shady area. Don’t keep the plants outside during windy
days or if the temperature is going to be below 45 degrees.

Reduce watering, but don’t allow plants to wilt. Gradually move
the seedlings into the sun for longer periods of time. If frost
is predicted put them in the garage or the house for the evening.

When hardening off is complete, move the plants into the garden
on a cloudy, calm day if possible. Plant seedlings at the same
depth as the container they’re coming out of. Use a high
phosphorous fertilizer during transplanting to ease transplant
shock and ensure good root growth. Avoid high nitrogen
fertilizers or you’ll have all leaves and no fruit. The three
numbers on the front of the fertilizer package stand for
nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, in that order.

If any of your seedlings are in peat pots, make sure you bury the
entire pot or peal off the top at the soil line or the exposed
peat can wick moisture from the roots of your seedlings.

Keep your seedlings protected for the first few days they’re in
the garden, if possibl. You can cover them with newspaper tents,
milk jugs, boards leaned against a fence or pole, etc.

Happy planting!

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Cheryl is a Master Gardener who volunteers with the Lake County
(Ohio) Extension office of Ohio State University. She won a
Cleveland Press Club award last year for her feature and column
writing.